‘Siblings of Jordanian jailed in Israel scheduled to see him Sunday’

AMMAN — Jordanian prisoner in Israel Muneer Merie is scheduled to see his siblings on Sunday, a brother said on Thursday.

The visit was supposed to be on Wednesday, but it did not happen because Muneer and his siblings said “it was arranged under different terms that were agreed upon”.

The new date of the visit was reached after a sit-in and a press conference were organised near the Foreign Ministry by the National Committee for Jordanian Prisoners and Missing Jordanians in Zionist Prisons, in cooperation with the national committee at the Jordan Agricultural Engineers Association, to call for arranging a proper visit.

Muneer’s brother Shaheen said Mohammad Abu Windi, head of the office of coordinating negotiations at the Foreign Ministry, told him that ministry employees will work to reach a better deal with the Israeli authorities.

Muneer’s family members want a two-hour visit without a glass barrier, but regulations of the Israeli Administration of Prisons state that visits last for 40 minutes and are conducted through a glass barrier.

Muneer was arrested in April 2003, and is serving five life sentences on charges related to dispatching some men to carry out attacks in Adora settlement in the West Bank’s Hebron.

“Ministry officials will try extending the duration of the visit from 40 minutes to at least one hour,” Shaheen told The Jordan Times, citing Abu Windi’s remarks.

Noting that officials say it is hard to arrange a visit without a glass barrier, Shaheen said his siblings are willing to see Muneer separated from them with a glass barrier.

“Ministry officials will coordinate with embassy staff in Tel Aviv to secure a phone call between Muneer and myself to try to convince him of making the visit through the barrier,” Shaheen said, expecting the call to be made on Friday or Saturday.